The overall goal of the Lifestyle Interventions in Overweight and Obese Pregnant Women Consortium is to identify effective behavioral and lifestyle interventions that will improve weight, glycemic control and other-pregnancy-related outcomes in obese and overweight pregnant women, and determine whether these interventions reduce obesity and metabolic abnormalities in their children. The Consortium will consist of clinical centers and a Research Coordinating Unit. Each clinical center within the Consortium will design and conduct an interventional study. -The Research Coordinating Unit will enhance the value of this research program by promoting collaboration, coordination and exchange of scientific information among the research investigators and NIH. These goals will be achieved by providing logistical and administrative support for meetings and calls, designing and maintaining an internal website for information exchange, preparing reports, linking datasets, disseminating results, and preparing limited access datasets for public use. The Research Coordinating Unit will assist with the design and implementation of the interventional studies, and will facilitate the design of the combined analyses across the studies by implementing common measures and methods. Additionally, the RCU will assist with data management, quality control and statistical analysis as required by the goals of the Consortium.

Public Health Relevance

The number of overweight or obese pregnant women is increasing and these women are at increased risk of poor pregnancy outcome and long term serious health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. In turn, the babies of overweight or obese women are at risk of obesity and overweight as they grow up, putting them also at risk for the same serious health problems. The purpose of this research is to find lifestyle and behavioral treatments for overweight and obese pregnant women that will improve outcomes for them and their children.